ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's basketball team held off a pesky Edgewood College team on night one of the Cameron Hospital Classic on Friday by a score of 66-51. The Thunder used a 26-point fourth quarter to pull away after only being up seven through three quarters of play.
Trine moves to 2-1 on the season, while the Edgewood Eagles fall to 0-3, but against three elite NCAA Division III opponents. One of the biggest statistical factors in the game was the home team forcing their opponents to 20 turnovers while only coughing the ball up 10 times themselves.
The Thunder launched from beyond the arc to start the evening with the first five shots coming from three, but only one fell at the hands of Katie Sloneker. Sam Underhill crashed the glass on the offensive end to give the team a 5-0 advantage.
The lead continued to grow for Trine in the first quarter as Katie Tate and Sidney Wagner got on the board for the offense. The Thunder led 11-3 just before the end of the period when a made basket by the Eagles made it 11-5.
Wagner found Sophie Sloneker for a three-point field goal to get the team on the board two minutes in to quarter number two. Trine found success late in the period by going inside. Wagner, Underhill and Tate all scored in the painted area before Makayla Ardis punctuated the first half with a dime to Underhill for a basket to beat the halftime buzzer.
Going into halftime, the Thunder led 24-20, but were not satisfied with their performance throughout the first 20 minutes. Underhill explained what went through the team's huddle during the intermission, "We were taking open shots, but the long shots weren't falling. We talked about getting it inside and even if it wasn't shooting a layup, it was about drawing defenders in so that our shots would be even more open."
Offensive rebounds led to a pair of baskets in the opening minutes of the third quarter and a steal by Alyssa Argyle coming out of a timeout allowed her to distribute a pass to Ardis for a lay-up to claim a 31-23 lead. With under four minutes to go in the third, Underhill put Trine up double digits for the first time in the game at 35-25. Edgewood finished the third by scoring six consecutive points to get to within seven at 40-33.
Four straight possessions coming out of the break resulted in points for the home team to get back to a double-digit lead. Sierra Hinds connected on back-to-back three-point field goals to make it 50-38 at the end of the run. Ardis would do the same down the stretch to continue to balloon the lead to 60-45. Tiana Maat would secure her first basket of the season late in the game, a three off an offensive rebound by Abby Sanner, to help get to the 66-51 final.
Underhill recorded her second career double-double with team-highs in points (14) and rebounds (12), including five on the offensive end. As a team, Trine pulled down 15 boards on offense. Wagner had 10 points, six assists and five rebounds off the bench and Argyle led the team with four steals.
The Thunder are back in action on Saturday afternoon for their final game of the Cameron Hospital Classic. The Thunder take on Otterbein College beginning at 3 p.m. live from the MTI Center.